In Dai Weisi's mind, the cold system notification intertwined with the Titan Giant Ape's eardrum-shattering roar, but the curve of his lips did not change in the slightest.
Retreat? Meet it head-on?
No, both were far too boring.
"Option three."
Dai Weisi made his choice silently.
Almost the instant he made his choice, the giant palm that blotted out the sky came crashing down, carrying a devastating gale!
The air compressed and tore with a piercing shriek. Before the palm even landed, its terrifying pressure had already cracked the ground inch by inch!
Zhu Zhuyun's beautiful face went pale. She instinctively tried to mobilize her Soul Power, only to find that her body was as insignificant as an ant before this force.
Yet a figure moved faster than she did.
Shi Mo merely said in a voice as steady as a mountain, "My lord, please wait a moment."
Before his words had faded, his seemingly gaunt body shuddered violently!
"Seventh Soul Skill, Martial Soul Avatar!"
"Boom-!"
Brilliant black light shot into the sky. Douluo Shi Mo vanished in an instant, replaced by a giant beast so immense it was suffocating!
It was a lava beast whose entire body was made of the darkest, hardest basalt!
"Fourth Soul Skill, Immovable as a Mountain!"
The giant beast raised its head and let out a deep roar. An earthy yellow halo suddenly flared to life, instantly coalescing into an incomparably solid energy shield that merged with its body.
At that very moment, the Titan Giant Ape's enormous palm, powerful enough to shatter mountains, finally fell!
"Boom-!!!!"
The indescribable crash was as if heaven and earth had collided!
A violent shock wave of energy spread wildly outward in a ring from the point of impact.
Within several hundred meters, every ancient tree, no matter how thick, was snapped in half in an instant, then pulverized by the following blast of air!
Even Dugu Bo's Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor Avatar was sent sliding a hundred meters backward by the impact, plowing two deep furrows into the ground.
He was horrified. Was this the power of the king of the forest?
A mere ordinary strike was already so terrifying!
Yet at the heart of that devastating storm, the lava beast still stood firm!
Its four feet were embedded deep in the earth. Though the earthy yellow light around its body flickered violently, it had... held out!
The entire world seemed to fall deathly silent at that moment.
For the first time, shock appeared in the Titan Giant Ape's savage eyes.
It could not believe that a human like this had blocked a blow it had struck in anger.
The light of utmost hope in Zhu Zhuqing's eyes also froze at that instant.
How... was that possible?
That was the Titan Giant Ape! The king of the forest! How could...
In that moment of stunned distraction, a figure sauntered out from behind the giant basalt turtle.
Dai Weisi did not even spare the Titan Giant Ape another glance. He straightened the collar that the fierce wind had slightly ruffled and walked directly toward the deathly pale Zhu Zhuqing, one step at a time.
His steps were unhurried, but each one seemed to tread on Zhu Zhuqing's heart, sending the hope that had just risen in her sinking bit by bit into an icy abyss.
"You..."
Zhu Zhuqing instinctively backed away, but her body had gone rigid with fear, leaving her unable to move.
Dai Weisi stopped in front of her and looked down at her, his purple eyes full of mockery and amusement.
"Was that your hope?"
He reached out and pointed at the enormous Titan Giant Ape in the distance. His tone was casual, yet carried a bone-chilling coldness. "It doesn't look like much."
Before his words had faded, he struck, seizing Zhu Zhuqing by her slender, snow-white neck and lifting her off the ground.
"No!"
On the giant ape's shoulder in the distance, Xiao Wu let out a scream of fury and shock!
Zhu Zhuqing struggled fiercely, her feet dangling off the ground. The suffocating grip made her pretty face flush scarlet.
But what filled her with even greater despair was the undisguised look in Dai Weisi's eyes, as though he were looking at a plaything.
"A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in human form, Xiao Wu?"
Dai Weisi did not even look at Zhu Zhuqing in his grasp. His gaze passed over her and fixed on the girl in the pink dress, trembling with rage on the giant ape's shoulder. The curve of his lips grew more cruel.
"This is your best friend. And now she's in my hands."
"How dare you!"
Xiao Wu's voice turned shrill with fury. "Er Ming! Kill him! Tear him apart!"
"Roar-!!!"
The Titan Giant Ape, too, was utterly enraged by Dai Weisi's actions. It let out an even more savage roar, and its other giant palm and the entire arm behind it became a bolt of black lightning, smashing toward the lava beast once more with the force to crush everything!
This attack was swifter and more ferocious than the last!
Yet Dai Weisi acted as though he had heard nothing.
He lowered his head and looked at Zhu Zhuqing.
He smiled.
Then, before everyone, before the furiously roaring Tai Xiong Giant Ape and Xiao Wu, whose eyes were nearly splitting with rage, he lowered his head and fiercely kissed Zhu Zhuqing on the lips, as though declaring ownership!
There was not a trace of tenderness in the kiss, only cold possession and conquest that brooked no resistance.
Then, with one hand, he tore Zhu Zhuqing's clothes apart!
"Mm...!"
Zhu Zhuqing's eyes flew wide, and all her struggling ceased at that moment.
An unprecedented sense of humiliation instantly overwhelmed all her mental defenses. Two streams of tears slid silently from the corners of her eyes.
"Boom-!!!"
The Titan Giant Ape's second strike slammed squarely into the lava beast!
This impact was deeper and more terrifying!
The earth beneath the lava beast could no longer bear the force and collapsed with a crash, forming a massive crater.
The aftershock of that violent force even sent the giant turtle's body sliding back several dozen meters.
"Pfft!"
A muffled grunt came from within the giant turtle. Clearly, even for Douluo Shi Mo, taking that blow head-on was no easy feat.
"Old Stone, can you still hold on?"
Inside the serpent's body, Dugu Bo asked in a muffled voice, a hint of worry in his tone.
He could sense that the Soul Power Shi Mo had consumed in that instant was staggering.
"It's nothing."
Shi Mo's voice remained steady, only slightly muffled. "My lord gave an order. Even if it kills me, I have to hold on."
At the center of the battlefield, after a bout of thrusting, Dai Weisi finally released Zhu Zhuqing and tossed her to Zhu Zhuyun.
She collapsed limply to the ground like a rag doll with all its bones removed, her eyes vacant and utterly lifeless.
Dai Weisi naturally did not look at her again. He simply dusted off his hands, a satisfied smile appearing on his face.
Then, with a thought, a Soul Ring that seemed to be made from the purest energy in the world quietly appeared before Dai Weisi, hovering motionlessly.
It was the God-Given Soul Ring!
Dai Weisi looked at the God-Given Soul Ring, and the corners of his mouth lifted.
Just like that, in front of the Titan Giant Ape and under everyone's gaze, he actually sat down cross-legged.
The sight left everyone dumbfounded.
Xiao Wu froze, and so did the Titan Giant Ape.
How arrogant was this?
How utterly dismissive of everyone around him?
Before the Titan Giant Ape, the king of the forest, he had not only humiliated the person it wanted to save, but now he was actually going to absorb a Soul Ring on the spot?
This was humiliation!
This was naked humiliation!
"Aaaah-!!"
Xiao Wu went completely mad. Pointing at Dai Weisi, she shrieked:
"Er Ming! Kill him! Kill him! I don't care what you have to do, you must kill him today!!"
"Roar!!!"